Vajra Guru mantra you can practice starting now. When you meet a lama, ask for the lung. You can also do prayers to be reborn there, again, ask for the lung for some of the formal prayers at some point. These aspirations as well as the VG mantra are not restricted tantric practices.

Also, I think it is very auspicious to make these prayers in the presence of great lamas. Even if you can meet with one for a couple minutes, and make the aspiration in front of them, and ask for their blessing and to pray with you.

It is said that you can recite the VG mantra without the lung as a prayer, and you will certainly eventually meet a qualified guru through the blessings of that, but that to practice on it and activate its function and gain realization, the lung is a must. Nonetheless, lots of benefit in the meantime til you can get the lung!

Hello Pema . I'm talking strictly about achieving rebirth in Zandok Palri and not about gaining some sort of realization in this lifetime, or are you saying one needs lung in order to achieve birth? Apologies if I misunderstood.

Nighthawk wrote:Hello Pema . I'm talking strictly about achieving rebirth in Zandok Palri and not about gaining some sort of realization in this lifetime, or are you saying one needs lung in order to achieve birth? Apologies if I misunderstood.

Rebirth in Zangdok Palri without realization is rather useless. You will be born as a Raksha and Guru Rinpoche will be your king but you won't see him as a Buddha then. You need realization to make use of your rebirth there.

Nighthawk wrote:Hello Pema . I'm talking strictly about achieving rebirth in Zandok Palri and not about gaining some sort of realization in this lifetime, or are you saying one needs lung in order to achieve birth? Apologies if I misunderstood.

Rebirth in Zangdok Palri without realization is rather useless. You will be born as a Raksha and Guru Rinpoche will be your king but you won't see him as a Buddha then. You need realization to make use of your rebirth there.

And what will you take birth as if you are realized? A security guard?

Nighthawk wrote:dakini boi, thanks for sharing those links. Since you mentioned it, is receiving lung from a lama a requirement? Also, is there any type of spiritual attainment that is needed to achieve birth?

no, lung is not a requirement for reciting vajra guru mantra. I don't know about spiritual attainment for attaining rebirth in Zangdok Palri. . . usually pureland-oriented practices are centered on Amitabha's pure land, even in Vajrayana. However, this is somewhat of a dualistic distinction, as Padmasambhava is an emanation of Amitabha.

Here's my advice: Go for it. Say Guru Rinpoche's mantra as much as possible, along with making aspirations. There are no guarantees. Be open to where this takes you. If you are sincere and persistent, this will invoke the conditions (time, place, lamas, teachings, etc) for you to reach your goal. And if you do find yourself in the presence of a teacher who inspires your trust, and is connected to Guru Rinpoche, state your aspirations and ask for help. In the meantime, don't worry about it, keep turning your mind to Guru Rinpoche and Zangdok Palri.

Nighthawk wrote:Hello Pema . I'm talking strictly about achieving rebirth in Zandok Palri and not about gaining some sort of realization in this lifetime, or are you saying one needs lung in order to achieve birth? Apologies if I misunderstood.

Oh, sorry, I don't know about that. If I were you I would just begin putting your whole heart and mind into reciting the mantra and aspiration prayers and then get the lung and further instructions when that becomes a possibility.

Thank you dakini boi and Pema for your replies. This was just something I was curious about as Padmasambhava is an emanation of Amitabha which made me think the ease of achieving birth in his Pure Land would be the same. Since there are no guarantees and I really have no desire to attain some sort of realization in this lifetime I'll be sticking with Amitabha practice.

Well that's good, and when you get to Dewachen, you will have plenty of opportunities to also go to Zangdok Palri whenever u want!! Also, I have seen descriptions of the Western pure land that describes like a three-story temple, where Dewachen is on the top (dharmakaya), Chenrezig's pure land is in the middle (samboghakaya), and Zangdok Palri is on the bottom (Nirmanakaya).